Summary

This report was presented at the UK Organic Research 2002 Conference. Consumers expect organic foods to be free of agro-chemical residues. Organix Brands plc. routinely test organic food ingredients for agrochemical residues using independent test laboratories. In the past year 243 batches of ingredients were tested and low levels of agro-chemical residues were found in 21% of samples. These residues can arise in organic food through environmental contamination, processing contamination or even the fraudulent use of agro-chemicals on organic food. Food containing agro-chemical residues can enter the organic system because of limitations in the organic rules